The King of Winter
by Arian Eripmav
Summary: Jon Targaryen, is the King in the North and the King of Winter. For 20 years he has kept the North and land beyond the wall safe from Southern politics and at peace but what would happen if the Dragons decide that there is no other way for him but to take a said. As the War of the Dragons begins, the direwolves begin their hunt as well. Doesn't comply with Dance of Dragons.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

**King in the North**

Jon sat in his solar looking out of the window at the Broken Tower now remade.

He was glad for it. The last vestige of the Dark Times were now finally behind him and he hoped that he too would be able to move forward by laying to rest his past demons.

Sighing, he closed his eyes with the hope to finally be at peace with himself but as soon as he closed them the horrors of his past began to flood his mind forcing him open his eyes. No, he'd never be at peace.

He had seen too much. He knew too much and most of all he had taken so many lives that he had stopped counting long ago but yet he remembered every face contorting in pain as he took the person's life.

Twenty years had passed of which winter had lasted for Seven Long years. The summer before that had lasted for Ten years and although Jon had been a child of autumn himself nothing could have prepared him for the winter that had changed his life forever.

He remembered all too clearly that day twenty years ago when it all began. It was the day when he had found Ghost, his companion for life. Jon couldn't have been happier that day for it had been a sign from the Gods; by gifting him a direwolf they had proven that he was indeed a Stark. It was also the day when his life began to take the turn for the worst.

It was the King's visit that separated their family forever.

He'd never forget the day he left Winterfell to join the Night's Watch. He had never imagined that the farewells that he had said to his brother and father would be for life.

It had pained him to hear of his father's death and the stigma of him being labelled as a traitor to the Throne. For many moons he had kept hope that his brother would avenge their father's death and bring peace to his memory but when he heard the way Robb had been betrayed and killed, it had torn him apart and killed something within him.

If Robb's death killed something within him, then killing Ygritte left him completely torn apart.

These deaths had left a void in his heart which remains till this day.

Maybe that was the reason that the betrayal of his own men didn't sting him much. Jon sometimes felt that no pain was greater than the loss of a loved one. He had been wrong.

Ramsay Bolton's letter heralding the massacre of his House, Winterfell and the pain that was being inflicted on Arya made him snap. Maybe it was then that the King's blood that flowed through him finally awakened. Bastards were never meant to be Kings but it seemed that no one, not even destiny could stop him from achieving his inheritance.

It was then, Three years after the Bastard of Winterfell went to join the Night's Watch and become its 998th Lord Commander that a group of riders came in the Night to Castle Black.

Cold and wet from the torrential winter rain, the riders lowered their hoods to reveal themselves.

Leading them was old Maege Mormont, Lady of Bear Island and a staunch supporter of her Father and later brother. With her travelled Galbart Glover, his face tired and eyes cold. The other riders began to lower their hoods as well and revealed themselves as Lorence Snow of Hornwood, Brandon Tallhart of Torrhen's Square, Lyanna Mormont, Aren Flint of House Flint and Edwin Snow of Karhold, Lord Rickard Karstark's bastard son. With them came another two dozen soldiers who refused to bend under the weight of winter and the horrors of the Long Night.

It was then that Jon was legitimated, a declaration that had been signed by Robb, then King in the North and the King of the Trident. Robb had made him his heir when news had reached him of Bran and Rickon's death.

At first Jon wanted to refuse Maege Mormont and he was about to do so but something within him compelled him not to do so. He remained silent and in his silence agreed to do as his brother had asked of him.

That night, Lord Commander Jon Snow of the Night's Watch was legitimized and was crowned under the watchful gaze of the Weirwood trees and the Old Gods.

With his direwolf by his side, he declared war on the Boltons and all those who had conspired with them to bring the North to its downfall.

It wasn't long before the scattered forces of the North started finding their way to Castle Black and swear fealty to the King of Winter, a crown of bronze and iron sitting on his head.

As the moons passed, the strength of his army swelled. Six moons after his coronation, the Northern Army under Jon's command stood close to eleven thousand men and women including the free folk and the men of the Night's Watch.

While King Stannis' army had taken residence at Eastwatch-by-the-Sea and Castle Greenguard, Jon decided to leave three thousand of his ranks to defend the other castles on the Wall against the Others and their wights and so with about seven thousand men he marched to Winterfell.

Jon still remembered the day when his army laid siege on Winterfell. It was a cold day, shrouded by dark ominous clouds that thundered through the night and the following week. The days grew colder and darker and for once it felt the Long night was upon them.

About a moon from when they first laid siege did they finally impregnate the defences of the ancient castle and put to sword every men irrespective of the colours he wore. The grey walls and the snow on the ground was stained red with blood.

That day the siege ended, Jon Stark, King in the North beheaded Roose Bolton, his bastard Ramsay, his wife Fat Walda Frey. Lady Dustin and Lord Ryswell were forgiven for they declared for Jon before he marched to Winterfell.

With the North secure, he called to the remaining Houses to swear fealty to him and bring with them as many men they could muster.

A smile tugged at Jon's face as he remembered the day when he set the Twins on Fire.

Old Lord Walder had thought that having castles on both sides of the mighty green fork would always keep him safe. Never did it occur to him that someone could be driven enough to take him from both ends.

At the end, he had personally seen to drowning each and every member of House Frey in the Green fork. Lord Walder and his sons he had decided would be given a much more painful death and was thus carried north with the returning army to await the King's justice in White Harbour where every day they'd burn a member of the family and force the other's to watch the man being burnt alive while they were tied to blocks of ice covered with salt.

Jon had planned a different death for Lord Walder. He had given the man to the Boltons who had switched sides to flay him alive. Later he had the Bolton men killed as well. There was no way in seven hells he could trust them, not after what they did to Winterfell.

And thus five years after he first set out from Winterfell to Join the Night's Watch, Jon Snow now Jon Stark, King in the North was now back in Winterfell sitting on the Weirwood throne that his father had once sat on.

As Jon looked out the window at the Winterfell which now was, he hardly recognized the castle he had grown in.

Twenty years had passed and Winterfell had been built anew with the Great Keep and the Grand Hall much larger than it once was. The Hall of Winter, essentially the newly built Throne Room was built much later and replaced the Grand Hall which then began to be used for smaller gatherings, feasts and celebrations.

Another year passed and during that period he married the Wildling Princess Val and together they had their first son, Eddard and daughter Neila. The twins seemed to take after their father and for once Jon felt that peace could be his but it was not to be and the cloud of war once again began to loom over the North.

Aegon VI Targaryen seemed to have risen from the dead and had laid claim to the Iron Throne.

For once, Jon felt there was no point to bother about Southern affairs and it'd be a long time before Aegon marched north and by then he and the Northern Army would be ready for him and so Jon unwillingly summoned his banners once again.

He asked the crannogmen to fortify Moat Cailin and commanded Lords Manderly, Mallister, Flint, Ryswell and Locke to begin marching to Moat Cailin to strengthen the defences there and do all they could to push back the Targaryen and his sell swords.

To Winterfell he summoned House Karstark, Glover, Cerwyn, Tallhart and Hornwood. With their combined might of eight thousand men he was about to march south to Moat Cailin when they received a message of distress from the Wall or rather what had been the wall.

Castle Black had fallen and with it the Long Night had come.

With the Northern Army on his back, he had marched to the Wall to fight the Others and their wights.

Death loomed over them as the ruins of Castle Black came in sight and with it the signs of a battle much recently fought.

A handful of men were all that remained standing between the horrors of winter and the realm as they knew it.

Jon thanked the Gods even know that he had made it in time for if he hadn't the realm would have ended and with it the Known World as well. For many moons and endless nights they fought the monsters that came with the dark. Demons that had been long forgotten crept out of the darkness to fight the living only to be burned to death and take several men from his army with them.

The northerners fought valiantly against the Others and demons of winter but it was only when the Targaryens arrived with their dragons did they truly defeat them and brought an end to the Long night.

Jon still remembered the day he saw the dragons coming towards them from far over the horizon.

Drogon, the Dread was the dragon which Daenerys Targaryen rode, fearsome beast that could swallow a horse whole. On its flanks flew two other dragons, Rhaegal and Viserion but they weren't the only dragons for King Aegon rode his own dragons to battle.

Arydian, the Sea Dragon was ridden by Daenerys' nephew while Prince Oberyn's daughter Elia Sand rode the black she dragon Obsidiax.

It was then that Jon realized the fire stir with him and it wasn't long before he had a dragon of his own. Rhaegal soon bonded himself to the King in the North and together with the Targaryens and their dragons; they set fire to the creatures of ice and ended the threat of the long night for once and for all.

After the war, Lord Howland Reed explained to the Targaryens and to Jon that Jon was in fact the son of Rhaegar Targaryen and his second wife Lyanna Stark. It was a lot to comprehend and it also explained why Jon was able to bond with Rhaegal but it also caused more problems.

With Aegon being the legitimate son of Rhaegar, it was but natural that he was to take the Iron Throne but Daenerys it seemed wanted the throne for herself. Jon made it clear that he'd rule the North as an independent kingdom and unlike Torrhen Stark, the Last King in the North he wouldn't bend the knee.

Jon's determination was echoed by Rhaegal and the Targaryens left the North to the 'Blackfyre' as they now called him only to war amongst themselves until Prince Doran Martell suggested that Daenerys become Queen and Aegon her heir and Lord of Dragonstone.

Daenerys and Aegon agreed to Prince Doran's suggestion and there was Peace but Peace came to Jon when his family came back to him.

Sansa was the first to return, but she was nothing of what he had remembered. If he was the King of Winter then she was an Ice Princess. Her years in the South under the tutelage of Petyr Baelish had made her a master of court and the Game of Thrones that the Lords engaged in. She had learnt from the best and then when she had learnt it all, she killed him to ensure that no one else except her was as good at the game as she was.

Gone was the Sansa who had dreamt of marrying a Knight from the Songs, run a Keep and have children. The Sansa that had returned was a wolf of the North, cold as ice. They were many who had begun to call her The Quiet Wolf.

For years Sansa had helped Jon keep the North secure and to strengthen his kingdom against the Southerners. Although she never admitted it but Sansa had managed to put in place her own network of spies, how she had been able to do that she never said but she didn't deny it even.

It was Sansa who had managed to find Arya, ever evasive and cunning Arya had returned from Braavos a few moons after Daenerys was crowned Queen of the South.

It was the first day of spring when the winter roses bloomed for the first time that Arya Stark rode through the Hunter's Gate and in to the arms of her brother and sister. She had changed much and for once Jon and Sansa wouldn't have recognized her had it not been for her haunting grey eyes.

She never spoke about the years that had gone by, Jon and Sansa never asked as well. All they knew was that she had been in Braavos and she had been content until she heard of the return of the wolves to Winterfell.

Jon was happy, his pack was swelling again. Val had blessed him with another child, a son who they named Robb.

A few years after Robb's birth, The Queen proposed a marriage alliance between House Stark and House Baratheon. It so happened that the new Lord Baratheon wished to marry the younger Stark Princess.

Jon still remembered the day when he broke the news to Arya that Lord Baratheon was coming to Winterfell to ask her hand in marriage. If looks could, Arya's would have burnt the person alive.

But yet again, the Gods had something else planned. On a warm spring morning, Lord Baratheon arrived with his Lords, Councillors and Knights and was given a warm reception to honour the bonds of friendship that were first laid by Bran the Builder and the first Storm King.

Arya had outright refused to meet him and wasn't even there to Welcome the Storm Lord in the Winter Hall. It was on Sansa's insistence that she decided to meet the young Lord in the Godswood. Jon didn't know what the Old Gods had whispered in Arya's ear like they seldom did in his that she agreed to marry the young Baratheon Lord.

A month from then, the couple was wedded under the sight of the Old Gods and Weirwood bearing witness to the marriage. A feast followed the ceremony which ended with the Lord Baratheon picking up the Princess and taking her to the bedding chambers.

For the first time in years, he had seen Arya's smile reach her eyes.

As the Winter King sat in his solar and looked out of the window, winter was gone and it'd be a long time before it came again. As the summer sun shone brightly outside, someone knocked on the door of his Solar.

"Maester Sam is here to see you Your Grace", said the guard at the door.

"Send him in." Jon replied, getting up from his chair to meet his old friend.

The double doors to his solar were opened wide to allow the hulking figure of Master Samwell Tarly through.

"It's been a long time Jon." said Sam opening his arms wide to invite his friend to hug him.

Jon found it hard to wrap his arms around his friend and made him aware of it, "You have gotten fat." He said to the Maester, "And you look older beyond your age." retorted Sam.

Jon offered the Maester a seat on his table and poured for him some arbor gold.

"I received your raven yesterday morning and I was surprised by the fact that you didn't send one before you left. What's the matter Sam?" Jon asked his friend as he took the chair opposite him.

After taking a long draught of wine from his goblet and several minutes of Silence, Sam looked up to Jon and said, "A seer from the citadel has made a prophecy…"

"What prophecy?" Jon asked, seriousness returning to his voice.

_Bloodied skies, War torn plains_

_Dragons dancing on embers_

_In the North, end will the Wolf's reign_

_The ice will melt on cinders_

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	2. House Storm

**House Storm**

As the clouds thundered outside the thick stone walls of Storm's End, the temperament inside the Great Hall of the Storm Lord's castle wasn't quiet either.

Arya sat beside her husband on High Table while the representatives from various households pleaded their cases to her Lord Husband. Husband, the word tasted like acid in her mouth but then again while the word burned through her mouth it intoxicated her at the same time.

At five and thirty, Lord Gendry Storm, the Great Bastard of House Baratheon, Bull Knight and Lord Paramount of the Stormlands looked as strong a warrior as he did when he came to ask her hand in marriage all those year ago.

Was this how King Robert would have looked if he hadn't taken to drinking and feasting? Arya often wondered what actually went wrong with the Stag King but then shook her head at the thought of the dead King. He was of no importance, neither him nor the thought of him. There was no point thinking of the Dead. Why give thought to a person who no longer exists, she thought.

She looked towards her husband, although his arms were still strong and his body still that of a warrior's there was no denying the fact that Gendry had aged. His black hair was now peppered with grey and if one looked closely enough they could see the wise lines at the corner of his eyes.

He truly had the most mesmerising eyes, much like his uncle Renly. This was how Renly would have looked if he hadn't fallen to the Tyrell's scheming and joined Stannis in the war against the Lannisters.

"Lady Storm" she heard someone call out to her, bringing her out of her thoughts.

Arya turned to her other side to see her husband's sister (half-sister) looking at her with a smirk playing on her lips.

"What is it Mya?" Arya asked her good sister.

"There's a Storm bellowing outside." She said looking out the wall of window on the other side of the window.

Arya turned her gaze in the direction of her good sister's. Truly enough, the thundering clouds had now burst to drench the castle and the sea beyond in thick sheets of water. The crashing of the waves on the cliffs below could be heard across the Great Hall, as the floor rumbled with the force of the crashing waves.

"There hasn't been a Storm like this in quite a while" Arya whispered in Mya's ear.

Mya simply nodded and turned her sight away from the storm across the window to the Lord standing before them.

"Lord Dondarrion, it's been a long time since you last visited us." Gendry said warmly, gesturing to his squire to fetch a chair and some wine for the Marcher Lord.

Arya and Mya simply smiled and gently bowed their heads in curtsey.

After Lord Aral Dondarrion was seated and offered a glass of wine, only then did they start talking about the reason behind his visit.

"I bring grave tidings My Lord" Lord Dondarrion said as he took a swig of wine from his goblet. Taking a deep breath he continued, "My scouts have informed me that men are gathering at Starfall, High Hermitage, Skyreach, Blackmont and Yronwood."

Arya raised her brow but remained silent. Lord Dondarrion continued, "There have also been reports that several war galleys are under construction in Ghaston Grey's docks."

"It seems as if Dorne is preparing for War." Piped Edric Storm, Gendry's brother.

"And what would you have me do Edric? Call the Banners?" Gendry fumed, "I think not."

Looking to Lord Dondarrion, Gendry said, "Lord Dondarrion I'm sorry but I won't summon the banners until I'm absolutely shore that Dorne is marching to war with us. We haven't given them any reason to do so. It is quite possible that they are going to war with the Reach again."

And from there Arya continued, "In such a case it's the Tyrells who need to be worried about them. I'd recommend though that you and the other Marcher Lords summon your men and gather at Nightsong and Blackhaven."

"Are we to block the Prince's Pass?" asked Lord Dondarrion.

"No" answered Arya, "It'd be advisable to send a raven to Starfall though. Lord Edric Dayne squired for Lord Beric Dondarrion, I'm sure he might have some vestige of allegiance and friendship left to your House."

"Besides that we'd prefer that you send some of your trusted knights to House Caron, House Foote and House Rout at the earliest to start amassing the soldiers." Gendry added.

"House Foote has already called in all its soldiers My Lord and I sent some of my men to join with them at the Prince's Pass the day I left for Storm's End." Lord Aral said, "We might have secured the Pass for now but I'll ask the other house to mobilise their armies as well."

"That will be good Lord Dondarrion." Mya said, with finality in her voice.

The young lord seemed to have got the message of dismissal from the family matriarch's tone and bowed his way out of the Great Hall.

As soon as Lord Dondarrion was escorted out of the Hall by Gendry's squire, the four Storms brought their heads together to discuss the gravity of information brought forth by Lord Dondarrion.

"We should send an envoy to Prince Trystane." said Edric.

"And say what? Disband your armies because we feel threatened." Arya retorted.

"Do we have another option, sister?" Mya spoke up in support to her brother.

"It'd be wise to inform the Queen and the small council of the matter." Gendry suggested.

"The Targaryens and the Martells are closely allied in case you have forgotten." Arya countered.

"You speak of Prince Aegon milady." Gendry said, a smile tugging at his lips. He knew how to work her ire.

"Do not call me Milady, Stupid." Arya said, through her teeth but couldn't hide the smile behind the anger for long.

"As Milady commands" Gendry said, under his breath.

"If Lord and Lady Storm are done exchanging harmless blows to each other then I'd see it wise to not deviate from the matter at hand." Mya said, feigning annoyance at her brother and good sister.

"We send an envoy to the Martells and mobilise our forces as well." Gendry said, first looking at Edric and then to Arya, "It'd be wise if we could delve deeper into the matter and we can only do so when we have more information." he added, looking directly at Arya, who smiled widely at what he had suggested.

"Good for us that the Dornish think so highly of cats." She said as she got up from the high table and pulled Mya along with her.

Edric simply stared as his sister and good sister walked out of the Hall into the private council chamber.

"What was that about brother?" Edric asked Gendry.

Gendry's lips curved into a smile, "The Dornish might be unbowed, unbent and unbroken but they haven't ever faced a Storm like they are going to now." He told Edric and then poured some wine into both of their goblets as the storm thundered outside their walls.

Arya walked to her personal Solar with Mya by her side at the top of the Storm Tower overlooking Cape Wrath.

Arya was a warg and her powers worked best when she was closest to the elements.

"How does it feel when you do it?" Mya asked Arya, her curiosity evident.

"I feel like the being I warg into." Arya answered simply.

"So it feels different every time when you warg into different animals." Mya asked.

"I feel more like myself when I warg into animals that I have bonded with." Arya answered, "When I warg into Nymeria the feeling is inexplicable. I'm still myself but I'm her as well." she further added.

"That completely threw me off." Mya said, a giggle escaping past her lips.

"It's difficult to understand warging." Arya said, "There haven't been wargs south of the wall for centuries."

"What about Bloodraven?" Mya asked.

"Are you talking about Aegon, the Unworthy and Melissa Blackwood's son?" Arya said, "Yes, from what I have heard he was a Greenseer and Warg, the first to have been born in centuries."

"But not the last." Mya said.

"Nor will I be the last." Arya whispered.

Mya didn't further question her good-sister. She already knew what she meant.

Soon after Gendry's marriage to Arya they had found out that she was a warg. The truth had come as a shock at first but when they saw for themselves that warging wasn't a dark art, they had been left in awe of Arya's ability.

Over the years Arya had worked on her warging and had been successfully able to warg into Ravens, Cats and Wolves in the Rainwood.

Cats were the easiest for her to warg into and that was what Gendry had asked her to do in the Hall. A few years ago Arya had discussed with them that it'd be for the best if they place cats in some of the Major Houses of Westeros.

Edric and Gendry had debated that House Baratheon suddenly gifting cats to various Houses of Westeros would look highly strange.

Arya had done all but hit the two of them that cats were wilful creatures and no one would mind if one was found roaming in the castle.

They had debated through the night before giving into the Ice Princess.

It had begun with a test with Arya placing one of her bonded cats in Gryffin's Roost and Blackhaven. She found that even at great distances she could warg into the cats and possess them completely. They extended the test when the sent one of her oldest bond cats to Winterfell and White Harbour.

Even now Arya used the cat to catch a glimpse of her siblings and what they were doing. It made her happy that even thought she was very far from them she could still reach out and see them whenever she wanted. Although the cat was now growing old, Arya kept her alive through the latent magic that the wargs possessed.

Only after she was successfully able to warg into the cat at Winterfell did they decide to place the remaining few bonded cats at strategic positions. Only four cats remained one of which was placed at Highgarden by an envoy they had sent to discuss trade and the other three cats were personally gifted to Price Trystane's daughters by Mya when she travelled to the veil for the coronation of Princess Arianne Martell.

It'd be one of the three cats that Arya would warg into to gather information.

Overlooking the sea, Arya sat down on the floor and closed her eyes.

Mya sat beside Arya, as her breathing deepened and slow down. This was the common practice Arya had seemed to follow whenever she consciously warged into one of her bonded pets.

A few minutes past and an eerie silence fell across the solar. The only sound that could be heard was that of Arya's breathing.

It was when after several minutes a crack of lightning shook the tower that Arya broke out of her trance like state, gasping for breath.

She fell to the hard cold floor, as blood oozed out of her nose.

Mya screamed for the hand maidens as she went to help Arya, trying to bring her back to conscious.

"Call the Maester now." Mya shouted as she tried to bring Arya back to consciousness, "Summon Lord Gendry and bring him to the Solar as well."

Mya broke out into a cold sweat as Arya began to convulse in her arms.

Something wasn't right. Something had gone terribly wrong.

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